Star Ocean: The Alternate Story
by Sorceress Myst
Summary: An alternate version of the game's storyline featuring a woman born and raised in Airyglyph and two people who were previously neglected in the original storyline. Heavy Alnel warning with a side of CliffxMirage.
1. The Glyphian Spy

Oh, boy, there has _got_ to be something wrong with me. First I jumped unto the bandwagon of the evil known as High School fics and now I started _another_ story! …Oh well, just go easy on me on the updates for they will be as slow as the updates for Aquios High.

Anyway, this is a What if AU starting off at the POV of a woman who was born and raised in Airyglyph. What woman? You'll just have to read on and find out for yourself.

And of course, I don't own SO3 or its characters and I try very hard to ignore the fact that I never will (sniffles as she hugs all of her Albel and Nel plushies)

Star Ocean: The Alternate Story

"…So we might have some delays, huh?" a voice said dejectedly inside a candle lit room within the mansion in Arias. It was nighttime and the sky was clear, allowing the many stars lining the black-blue sky to shine their brilliance upon the Elicoorians who were out on such a night. There was only one moon out and it shone a faint light, making it the perfect night for spies to listen in on enemy plans.

"I'm afraid so Lady Clair, the Thunder Arrow has a few…problems," the female soldier reported, earning another sigh from the commanding officer.

"…I see. Tell her majesty that we will continue to hold off the Glyphians as long as we can until the weapon is operational."

"Yes, ma'am!"

On top of the roof, directly above the window, a dark figure grinned. So the Aquarian weapon wasn't going to be ready for quite some time. Of course news from Aquios to Arias was a week old and there might be a chance of one of their engineers having a break through, but fortunately should that happen, the Airyglyph spies stationed there would send a carrier bird to alert the three brigades to make an immediate attack before they could set their weapon up. The Glyphian spy slowly sat up and wrapped her black, fur lined cloak tightly around her slender figure as if she was cold. It wasn't long before the sound of chairs scraping across the floor and doors shutting were heard beneath the cloaked figure, alerting her that the meeting was over and the people inside were now preparing themselves for a cautious nights sleep. It was cautious because they feared another sneak attack from Airyglyph.

With nothing else to do, the spy carefully stood up and tip toed her way to the nearest tree to climb down. The black cloak and black clothing she wore underneath camouflaged her well from the patrolling runologists and soldiers as she traveled in the shadows to find a safe place to sleep for a few minutes. She longed to return to Glyphian territory for she had been away for nearly two weeks, but she had to find out more about the 'secret weapon' the Aquarians were going on about. She had enough information about its development so now all she needed was the specifications on it so Airyglyph needed know what they might be up against and so the precious few engineers they had could create a way to counter the weapon. The man she sent to retrieve the information was due to arrive tomorrow and once it was in her hands, she could return home.

She found a cozy spot behind a few crates and settled herself down before she pulled out a beautiful silver engagement ring that hung from a silver chain around her neck. Ever since she was a little girl, her father arranged for her to be married to the only son of a friend of the family. The wedding was supposed to happen when her intended turned 19, but the death of both of their fathers and the war constantly pushed it back. At first, their relationship was forced because their fathers always put them together and made them spend time together. But after a few years of getting to know one another and after they learned how to fight from their fathers, they slowly warmed up to each other with only a few arguments to defend their pride. Their bond had grown even stronger when they hadconsoled each other when their fathers died. Both mothers had died at childbirth and they both were very close to their fathers, so they only had each other to pull them through the anguish when they were suddenly orphaned. Her fiancé promised her that they would get married once the war was over, not to honor their fathers' wishes but because he loved her. Though it would be a cold day in the Urssa Lava Caves to get him to admit that out loud.

Suddenly, a strange loud noise permeated through the darkness. It almost sounded like continuous thunder, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The Glyphian raised her hooded head and managed to catch sight of a streak of light like a tear drop from the stars. The dazzling falling star cut across the sky and left a lingering trail of smoke as it fell to earth. She followed its path until it flew past both the Bequerel and Traum mountains and made a crash landing that could still be faintly heard even to the townspeople out here. The woman's eyes widened as she realized that the object had landed close, if not on top of Airyglyph. The king may be in danger! But before she could jump out of her hiding place, the front door of the mansion opened and several Aquarian women rushed out to see what had happened.

One of the women was Clair Lasbard, the daughter of Adray Lasbard. Adray was the man who had slain her father so many years ago, making the Glyphian spy finger the hilt of her blades as she thought of Lasbard's daughter dying by her hands as revenge for her father's untimely death, but she knew better than to jeopardize her mission. Even though Clair was a Crimson Blade she knew she could defeat her, but once she did, she would then have to face the army stationed in Arias. It was her mission to personally deliver the weapon specifications to the king and she was not one to abandon her mission over personal feelings. She calmed her nerves by taking slow deep breaths. Unlike her intended, she was level headed and calm during tense situations where as he was reckless and ready to fight anyone at anytime. Of course, while they had their differences, they had their similarities too. They were both stubborn, had to have things go the way they want it, and were both quick to anger.

She missed most of the conversation before she recovered from her anger, but was able to discover that the object wasn't the Aquarian weapon as she first had feared.

"Tynave, Farleen, go to Airyglyph and find out more about what crashed in the Glyphian territory. Report your findings to me," one of the soldiers present ordered before the chosen two headed off on their new mission. The spy wasn't sure if it was Clair who had given the order or if it was someone else because she refused to peer around the corner of the crates to see them lest she might be caught. It wasn't long until Clair dismissed everyone and went back inside. The spy was about to move from her position when she felt a lingering presence out in the streets where the Crimson Blade and her troops were. There was one soldier left outside, staring at her hiding place. She couldn't see the face but could make out a slender figure with shoulder length hair in the minimal moonlight. Who ever it was was probably an important person and would be missed if she should dispose of her, so the Glyphian had no choice but to hold her position and pray that the soldier would abandon her suspicion.

The female soldier slowly and cautiously approached as the spy held her breath. Sweat was starting to form on her forehead once the Aquarian was beside the crates looking around for any movements.

"Mika?" A familiar voice echoed out, making the soldier jerk her head up and face the mansion.

"Yes, Lady Clair?"

"What are you doing?"

"I thought I saw something suspicious, but I guess it was just the wind…" the soldier named Mika replied as she walked away. The spy resisted the urge to sigh in relief.

"…You have been working hard lately. I would give you a few days leave, but with the current situation…"

"Oh, no Lady Clair! I'm okay, I'm probably paranoid from the lack of sleep."

"In that case, maybe you should come inside and go to bed. We have a long day approaching," the gray haired Crimson Blade ordered as the soldier bowed and followed her inside.

It was once again silent as the spy's thoughts drifted back to the bright light in the sky. What if it _was_ an Aquarian weapon and the troops here didn't know what it was yet? What if the king was in danger? She needed to return to Airyglyph! After making sure the coast was clear, she approached the gate that led to Peterny and left a small mark on the wood with her blade, a sign for her subordinate to send the information to her in Airyglyph through carrier bird. It was better to meet in person, but the king's safety was more important than the mission so it would have to do. Sneaking around the town to get to the other gate that led to the Aire/Kirlsa Hills wasn't much of a problem until she arrived at her destination. There was quite a contingent of guards, four in fact, standing guard at the gate. She glanced around the ground until she found a rock large enough to cause a disturbance and threw it at a couple of stacked barrels. It was enough to make two of the guards leave to investigate, as for the remaining two, they were dispatched by the Glyphian's daggers.

She continued to jog until she was sure she was in the Kirlsa territory. If she had any pursuers then they would have given up by then. She ran across a few knights on her way towards town, but they recognized her and allowed her to pass without any complaints. Once she was safely within the gates of Kirlsa, she relaxed and pulled down her hood before letting down her previously bound, shoulder length hair. She was in familiar grounds and didn't need to hide her identity anymore. Her journey had taken an hour and the night air was now chillier as the lone moon climbed higher. After her father had passed away, this town had become her hometown as she had lived most of her life here until she had been accepted into the army as a spy for the kingdom. She had many fond memories here…

The trip to Airyglyph should take about a day and if she left now, she would arrive about late morning tomorrow. But it seemed fate had other plans. Just as she was crossing the central square, she sensed someone following her. By the time she was back into the shadow of the buildings, she knew who the stalker was and purposely slowed her pace. She was certain she knew who it was because no one else had that kind of figure and walked the way the person did. She let out a slight gasp as she felt a strong grip on her shoulder and was then pushed up against a nearby wall. The spy didn't realized that she had closed her eyes, but when she opened them, all she could see was crimson with a black blonde curtain over it before she felt her assailant forcibly press his lips against hers.

Had this been any other person then she would have had him thoroughly beaten and bloody on the ground by now, but he was Albel the Wicked and she had no chance in fighting him off. Not that she _wanted_ to fight him off of her. She moaned as her eyes closed and as she willingly participated in the kiss. She could feel him smirk against her lips before he slipped his tongue past her teeth to explore her mouth and push against her tongue playfully. His good hand began to roam all over her body as his thin yet muscular frame pinned her against the wall, allowing her to feel something very hard poking her lower stomach. Apparently he missed her a lot since her mission. Eventually they needed air and reluctantly broke away, but he didn't back away from her and continued to hold her still with his body.

"I missed you too," she panted between breaths, earning a dark chuckle from Albel.

"I knew I'd find you here eventually."

"So I assume you have seen that light in the sky?"

"Yeah, it appears to have landed within the city, but thankfully no where near the palace. I just received summons from the king and was also ordered to go find you and take you to Airyglyph."

"Then let's go," the female spy urged as she vainly tried to push his heavy form off of her. Her attempts ended in a shiver up her spine as she felt his metal claw trace her outer thigh.

"What's the rush? I'm not though playing with you yet," he purred in her ear.

"But the King-!"

"The King is fine Nel, and although I hate giving those maggots any credit, they are capable enough to defend him with their lives. Plus, there is no point in going tonight, unless you want to show up with dark circles under your eyes." The red haired spy was fighting a loosing battle and she knew it. The Black Brigade Captain immediately seized her mouth once again and found no protest from her. That is until he brought his good hand under her knee and lifted her leg up to his waist.

Nel made a muffled sound before she tore her mouth away and hissed, "Albel!"

"What is it _now_, woman?" He was starting to get annoyed with the interruptions.

"Out here?" she whispered back with a slightly worried look in her eyes.

"You had no problems with it before," he replied with a grin.

"But we're in the middle of a town, not out in the fields!"

Albel grunted as he dropped her limb and slowly pulled away. Nel was torn between feeling relieved or disappointed. It had been awhile since they've been alone together. Suddenly Albel bent down and picked her up bridal style before walking off.

"Where are we going?" she inquired as she struggled to get out of his hold.

"To my room." He was referring to the room he stayed in Woltar's mansion. Nel had her own room there too, but nether one had used them since before the war. Woltar was like the only family they had left and had taken them in after Albel's Ascension of the Flame and her father's fateful mission. It was now upon the old warrior's shoulders to make sure Glou and Nevelle's children were well provided for and to help out in the preparations for when they were to be married.

"Okay you can put me down now. I can walk on my own," she protested once they arrived at the gates to the mansion.

"No can do, Zelpher," he said as the guards briefly stared at each other in confusion and allowed them entry. Albel only called her by her last name when there were other people present, but even that was an honor in a way because he called everyone else a fool, maggot, or worm. Even Woltar was called 'old man' or 'old coot' by him, but never by his title or given name.

"Besides," he continued near her ear, "you might try to run away and I'm not in the mood to track you down before I take you."

She held in another cry of pleasure when he nipped her ear lobe after he kicked the main door closed. It was a slow journey up the stairs and by the time they reached his room, Nel's armguards and the top half of her shirt were ripped open by his claw, but she didn't mind. She had spares and would change in the morning, but for now, it was time to play catch up with her fiancé.

* * *

Pre-dawn light bled through red curtains when Nel's eyes opened and focused on the bare chest in front of her. She wasn't too surprised to see that Albel was already awake. She carefully sat up, making sure the blankets were still covering her as she glanced at her shredded clothing on the floor. She counted her blessings that he wasn't _too_ wild with that claw of his. Her eyes traveled to the bedside table where the mentioned claw was resting. Save for the doctors that treated him and the blacksmith who created the gauntlet many years ago, Nel had been the only person who had seen what lay inside the deadly weapon. After the Ascension of the Flame, he had not only lost his father, but most of his left arm too. The doctors that had treated him replaced his arm with a metal one engineered in Greeton that could move like his original arm.

Nel's thoughts ceased instantly when his arms wrapped around her waist and the warm flesh of his chest was pressed against her back. She practically melted in his grasp as he attacked the mark he left on her shoulder last night, biting and sucking on the reddened skin. When he was satisfied, he pulled back and examined his work.

"Ready to go?" he asked in a low voice. Nel smiled before she leaned her head back to rest against his shoulder.

"Sure…once you go retrieve some spare clothes from my room."

"You have two legs, go get them yourself."

"I'm sure that Woltar and the other servants wouldn't mind seeing me running to my room completely naked-" she was cut off when he pressed his lips against hers and then pushed her against the mattress. When she recovered, she found him getting dressed and putting his gauntlet back on his metal arm before he left the room.

One thing Nel had to get used to was Albel's extremely possessive nature. The moment he first kissed her when she was 14 was the moment when she irrefutably belonged to him. That meant that no other man could touch her, stare at her intensely, or see her in the nude, not unless they had a death wish that is. But on the flip side, if she belonged to him, then that also meant that he belonged to her as well.

The crimson haired woman let out a content sigh before she peered over the edge of the bed to search for her item bag. She was glad to find the small black purse escaped the dark warrior's claw and searched the content for some contraceptive herbs. Now was not the best time to bear children for the kingdom still needed her services until the war was over and she wasn't ready to take care of children yet. She didn't hear the door open and ended up stunned when her clothes were thrown in her face.

It took Nel a few minutes to get dressed and ready to go. They were soon out of the mansion and close to the town gates before the sun began to peek over the horizon. Woltar should be awakening soon. The thought of the old man made Nel feel a little guilty. They had stayed the night in his home and yet didn't stay long enough to greet him a good morning. Though it was probably for the best that they had left early, he would only find out what they did last night and disapprove of it. Woltar didn't need to bother himself over trivial matters such as how they spent their quality time with each other. It was better if he remained ignorant to their activities, that is, if he didn't know of them already. There was a high probability he knew all along and kept quiet about it.

Without further delay, the warrior and the spy began their journey to Airyglyph to find out more about the object that landed in their kingdom.

* * *

It was four in the morning when the guards that surrounded the Eagle finally drifted off to sleep. Mirage was now able to make her escape. She silently and efficiently tip toed past the medieval like soldiers and surveyed the outer damage. The Eagle was quite thoroughly trashed. It was a wonder Cliff didn't throw a fit when he stepped out. After her analysis of the damage, she slowly made her way to the nearly empty streets. Cliff had ordered her to not go rescue him and the target so she didn't know what to do to pass the time for now. She stripped a few important devices from the shuttle before she left, like a communicator and a first aid kit, and hid them carefully under her jacket.

It was too late to order a room at the inn, but she needed to go inside somewhere before the freezing temperatures began to affect her. She spotted a tavern a few yards away and decided a glass of cider didn't sound too bad right now. While she was there, she could also earn a bit of money arm-wrestling some of the bar flies there.

Mirage glanced at the ominous castle near the end of the city and silently wished the two men inside good luck.

* * *

Alright, what do you think? Is this good enough for an update, or should I just leave it as it is? I was curious about how Albel and Nel's relationship would be if they were both on the same side in the war and decided to write about it. Well, anyway I need to go study for tests. The sooner I get those tests over with the sooner I can write more fics…C ya! 


	2. The Crimson Blade

Yea! I got the next chapter up finally! It sure took me forever because I had so much art work to do for my class. …Not that I'm complaining too much. I get to draw a comic scene from Aquios High as an assignment and I chose the 4th period scene in chapter 5! Well, here's the chapter and as usual, I don't own SO3 or any of its characters. Enjoy.

Chapter 2

"Albel, aren't you cold?" Nel asked once again. There was a slight flurry and a cold breeze in the Traum Mountains that made both the travelers shiver, but Nel had her fur lined cloak and didn't feel the effects as bad as Albel did. Although he seldom complained, she knew he hated the cold.

"Bah, get off my back woman, I'm used to this weather. If I took your cloak, then what would you wear?" he grumbled as he walked faster. Suddenly, Nel had an idea and tried to hold in her grin as she quickly and silently ran up to him and jumped on his back. At first he was shocked but he quickly recovered and used his right arm to support her. She made sure that her cloak draped over his shoulders as she tightly wrapped her legs around him.

"There, we can share it," she declared before she caught a glint in his crimson eyes. With a slight toss, Nel found her bottom hitting the snow covered ground, "Hey!"

"Don't tempt me. It's too cold," he growled as he focused his attention on the path ahead of them. She then realized that she may have had her legs wrapped a bit too tightly around his lower torso.

"I wasn't thinking about _that_! I was just trying to help. I know how much you hate the cold," she finished softly.

"Mind your own business…" he muttered as he faced her. Nel couldn't help but think of how incredibly rude and heartless he could be, but then remembered that of all the jackasses in the world, he was her jackass and life would be monotonous without going against his antagonistic-like nature. His good hand was offered to help her up and she took it gratefully until he added, "As I recall, I'm not the one who needs help constantly, especially in battles."

"And just what are you implying? I'm not exactly the weakest warrior in Airyglyph," she argued before she pulled her hand out of his grasp.

"But you're not the strongest either. Your attention is lacking and you could use a bit more training." He continued walking with a bit of a smirk playing on his lips as she fumed.

"Well I'm sorry for worrying about your well being!"

"You don't need to worry about it, I'm not a child!"

"I didn't say that you were."

Albel huffed as he narrowed his crimson eyes at her like a four year old that had his favorite toy taken away, "It sounds like it. Besides, I'm the one who's supposed to be taking care of _you_. I can't protect you when you go out of your way to see if I am wearing clean underwear."

"Protect me?" she said in a raised tone, "I can handle dangerous situations just fine, thank you."

"I didn't say that I was protecting you from danger, though sometimes you still need help. I've been protecting your honor and keeping those filthy maggots at bay."

She wanted to fight back at the comment, but couldn't because it was true. With her being the only female in the Airyglyph army, there was bound to be rumors floating around and with the rumors, curious, female-deprived soldiers would come to see if they were true. The seldom few who thought they could take advantage of her were easily defeated by her, but if Albel hadn't claimed her, then who knew how many soldiers would bother her on a daily basis. She didn't take into consideration the many soldiers he probably fought off behind her back. Her silence made him glance back to make sure he didn't go overboard. But before he could taunt her into another comeback, a large hawk flew by and dropped a scroll into Nel's hands.

"Oh…the specifications for the Aquarian weapon…" she said as she examined the scroll. Albel had nothing else to say because he didn't care about the 'secret weapon' and let her read over the contents in peace. She was thoroughly pleased with the results her subordinate provided and then focused her attention back to her fiancé. Nine years ago, they argued over the dumbest things just to prove who was better and they both refused to admit that they liked each other until that fateful day…

(Flashback)

"Nel, it is time for us to travel to Aquios," Nevelle Zelpher informed his daughter from behind his desk. A fourteen year old Nel snapped her head up in attention at his words.

"To enemy territory? Why?"

"Remember when I told you about your great grandparents being runologists from Aquaria? You have shown impressive abilities in learning runology and you are now the right age to receive runes," he explained as he pulled back a sleeve to show her his runes. Her eyes traveled over the strange red markings embedded on his skin with awe.

"But wouldn't they arrest us for trespassing on their country?"

"They are honor bound to the descendants of runologists and must allow anyone with the ability to be tested whether they're from Aquaria, Airyglyph, Greeton, or the Sanmite Republic. They are not allowed to attack us during our Pilgrimage, but they are not obligated to let us escape so easily when it's over. Be sure to pack some healing supplies and extra blades to be safe."

"How long will this trip be and when are we leaving?" she asked excitedly. Nel had always wanted to become a full fledged runologist like her father and couldn't wait for the journey. Deep in the back of her mind, she secretly waited for the moment to cast spells so she could defeat a certain arrogant, dark haired warrior in training during their next sparing practice.

"It will take us two weeks if things go smoothly. As long as we are not engaged in war with them, we should have the safest journey if we left as soon as possible because it's only a matter of time before we actually declare war on them. I'd say we should leave tomorrow morning so start packing."

"T-tomorrow?" Her expression was suddenly downcast at the news, "But next week is…"

"Yes, I know. Next week is Albel's Ascension of the Flame, but this needs to be done as soon as possible. Once this is over both of you will be even stronger and I'm sure you can live two weeks without fighting with your lover-"

"Daddy!" Nel screamed as her face turned as red as her hair.

"What?" he inquired with a teasing grin, "It's obvious you love him so thus he is your lover."

"Shush, father! What if he hears you?" she whispered in a panic. There was no use hiding things from her father, but she still didn't want Albel to know of her feelings for him. He would be more than happy to use that to his advantage the next time they argued.

"Now, don't get excited, Albel knows he should be training for his Ascension of the Flame instead of sneaking around," Nevelle reassured, knowing full well that there was indeed a certain eavesdropper at the door.

Later that day, Nel was in her room packing when she heard the door open, then close, but no other sound. She could sense there was another person in her room, but didn't bother to look at him because who ever it was didn't seem like a threat.

"I heard you're leaving tomorrow to become an Aquarian." Nel blanched at the voice. Take that back, the intruder was a threat, not physically, but emotionally. Keeping her frustration in check, she turned to face him, but didn't look him in the eye. She didn't want to see his teasing smirk or the look of arrogance in his eyes.

"I'm becoming a Runologist for Airyglyph, that doesn't mean I'm switching to the other side. I'll be back in two weeks and I'll be coming back stronger, so be expected to get your butt kicked when I return."

"That is if you don't get burned to crisp by my dragon," Albel retorted with amusement in his voice. Nel huffed and turned back to her packing.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch. You don't have a dragon yet and I seriously doubt Glou would let you do that to me," she replied as she stuffed another shirt into her bag.

"True," he admitted before Nel heard him walking across her room, "But I _will_ get a dragon and I will still be stronger than you."

"We'll see. All because you have a dragon doesn't mean you'll be stronger while sparring," she responded as she finally looked at his face. Nel was surprised to find that he wasn't smirking and his eyes were a deeper shade of crimson. He looked predatory as he stared back at her hungrily. She backed away from him despite her mind screaming at her to not show any weakness towards him. He only followed after her.

"A-Albel?" her voice was getting shaky, there was something about the way he looked that made her want to run away, "W-what…what are you doing?"

He didn't seem to hear her as he backed her into the wall, leaving her trapped between him and the wall. She was quickly caught off guard as he snaked one arm around her waist and brought his head closer to hers, "Don't get yourself killed over there."

"I won't," she reassured, shivering slightly at the feel of his hot breath in her ear, "Between me and my father, those Aquarians wouldn't be able to stand a chance should they try to ambush us."

"Good, but if I hear that you are in trouble, then I will be over there to rescue you." His left hand trailed up from the small of her back to her red hair as she felt her cheeks get warm.

"What's with you? Are you sick? Since when have you ever cared about me?" she asked frantically as she tried to move away, but his grip on the back of her head tightened. Silken strands were tangled around his thick fingers as he roughly pulled her head up to look at him in the eye, but he was still gentle enough not to cause any discomfort to her.

"Since you became my woman," he answered her last question in a deep voice before he claimed her mouth in a hard, forceful kiss. Her eyes widened from both his answer and his actions. It was all too sudden. He never showed any signs of being attracted to her in that way, he'd always thought of her as a potential fighter to challenge him in battle, or so she thought. He wasn't moving away as quick as she would have liked. It was almost as if he was trying to suffocate her as he bruised her lips with his and when he finally did decide to move, she was feeling light headed from the lack of oxygen.

At the other side of the manor, Nevelle was packing for the trip tomorrow when he heard a knock on his door. He knew who was standing on the other side before the person even knocked. He easily recognized the sound of the footsteps of a heavy, well-built man. When he opened the door, he was greeted by the slightly furious Glou Nox.

His crimson eyes narrowed at him before he asked, "Nevelle, my dear friend, have you seen my rather indolent son anywhere?"

"Son? Let's see…son," Nevelle couldn't hold back the amused grin, "Oh! You mean that smaller version of you who loves to swing that long sword around like a toy and has that adorable 'I'm stronger and better than you' attitude?"

"Yes, that one. Have you seen him? He is supposed to be out in the training grounds practicing, but he doesn't seem to be _anywhere_," the dark haired swordsman replied as he raised an eyebrow at the spy's mischievous expression, "Did I miss something funny?"

"No…but do you remember that little relationship problem our little ones were having?"

"…Yeah."

"Let's just say, I helped move things along," the red haired man replied as Glou began smirking.

"Albel's been eavesdropping on Nel again?"

"Yes."

"And you got Nel to admit she loves him when he was there _not training_?"

"In a nutshell…" Soon both men began laughing at the turn of events.

"So he's in Nel's room right now, is that it?" Glou inquired between breaths.

"Yes, that's about right," Nevelle answered, his laughter dying down to chuckles. It wasn't long before realization hit them in the face like a cold gust of winter wind. Two teenagers who have been holding back their feelings for one another are alone together in a room and they are finally revealing how they feel about one another. The fathers stopped laughing on a dime as both their expressions became serious.

Nevelle cleared his throat before he brushed past Glou and headed down the hall, "We better go down there and make sure they are not doing anything more than just kissing."

"You have read my mind."

(End Flashback)

Nel had no clue what had made Albel make the first move because just that morning, they had fought over who would get to use the training field and made it quite clear that they despised each other. There was something missing, something that she didn't know about, but decided not to dwell on it now that it was all said and done. It was a good thing she knew Albel's personality, otherwise she would have thought that he was merely staking his claim on her as his property instead of declaring that he only wanted to be with her. The only problem with having Glou as a father was the fact that he couldn't teach Albel how to be romantic or sensitive and with Glou being a famous swordsman, Albel knew he had to be strong so he would make him proud. He would think that having a sensitive side would make him weak so she never expected him to be completely nice and give her flowers or chocolates on occasions.

Although, Nel had to admit with a slight blush, she did like it rough and despite her strong independent nature, she didn't mind being submissive to him. Of course she couldn't always be submissive and still tend to fight back when she wanted to.

"Watch out!"

Nel gasped and fell back on her bottom for the second time that day as Albel came between her and a charging monster. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't realized that they were being attacked. Albel managed to cut off the arm of the monster before it tried to knock him away to get to her. All it took was one more strike and the beast fell. It wasn't much of a challenge, only a weak inhabitant of the Traum Mountains. Albel smirked down at his fiancé before he yet again offered to help her up. This time she brushed off his help and got up on her own, glaring at him all the while.

"Just go back to sleep, Nel, I'll take care of the monsters," he teased after he cleaned his sword and sheathed it.

"I'm sorry. I had a lot on my mind," she apologized as she looked away. She didn't like the fact that he had to save her like she was some damsel in distress, but it was her fault for not paying attention.

"Heh, like I said; you're attention is lacking. You're lucky you're mine, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to save you," he added with a smug look as he moved closer to her and stared her down with his piercing gaze.

"You didn't have to, I would have handled it," Nel argued stubbornly, casting her eyes over his shoulder so she wouldn't have to look at his victorious grin.

"Sure you could. It's a wonder how you survive when I'm not around-" He stopped when she brought her hand up and held it up behind him.

"Firebolt!" she yelled after some chanting and small hand motions. Albel glanced behind to find a small porcupine roasting in the snow. Where did that thing come from all of a sudden? He didn't even know the sneaky beast was there. When he faced Nel again, she had her own smug look of victory written across her features.

"…Don't get too excited. It was only a porcupine."

"Yes, of course, it was only a porcupine that was about to attack you from behind."

"Bah, let's go. We wasted enough time here," he ordered with a small tint of pink dancing across his cheeks. Nel giggled as she followed him down the trail to Airyglyph. She may have won this round, but there were many more to go.

* * *

Mirage had lucked out. There were plenty of drunken men that were too drunk to think her questions were weird. Of course, most of the information was exaggerated (as in some of the men were _really_ reincarnations of some god named Apris or that they were the true king of Airyglyph), but thankfully the bartender was able to fill her in on the real details. He thought she was drunk since she had already downed seven mugs of cider. It was a good thing Klausians had a higher alcohol tolerance than other species. She had found out that she was currently in Airyglyph and this kingdom was at war with Aquaria, thus, they thought that their ship was a weapon from the enemy.

She was in for even more luck when a couple of soldiers came in for a few drinks. She was able to overhear the conditions of Cliff and Fayt and how they were important to the kingdom. Mirage wasn't too worried about Cliff when she heard that they were being tortured (after all, it wasn't his first time), but she was concerned over the young boy. Maria would be displeased should something bad happen to him before she got the chance to talk to him. Actually, if Maria's research was true, and if he was more powerful than their leader, then maybe she should worry more about the city. Who knew when Fayt's power would awaken? It was chilling enough to think about what damage he could be capable of.

Her information gathering mission was cut off abruptly when one of the drunkards decided that she had a nice bum and tried to grope her, only to end up getting thrown over the bar. The bartender kindly asked her to leave, and she did so without a fight. Now that the sun was out, it wasn't as cold as it was during the night, but it was still pretty chilly. She walked over to the side of a nearby building, out of the wind and away from sight. Once there, she put on a small radio device had was easily hidden by her hair and listened through the frequencies for any sign of Quark.

One frequency included a conversation between Vendeeni war ships while another one was a conference between the Federation ships. It seemed that both sides were fighting each other out in space and it also seemed that Mirage and the others were surrounded. Hopefully neither side knew of Fayt's whereabouts. Well, until the soldiers surrounding the Eagle slackened, there was no way of contacting _anyone_ in space. With nothing left to so, she began to wander the city. Maybe she could go shopping for some supplies with the money she earned…

"Admit it! You dropped your guard," a red haired woman said tauntingly as she followed a tall, skinny warrior. The Klausian immediately turned her gaze towards the main road where they walked. The warrior scowled as he quickened his strides.

"Silence woman! One more word of this and I'll kill you," he growled as he fought the blush down.

"Oh, please! You have been threatening to kill me for years and yet you've never done it."

"You're getting on my last nerves, wench," he growled threateningly.

"Serves you right for infuriating me for the past 20 years," she replied, not one bit fazed by his glare. Mirage watched as the couple continued on towards the castle. The guards at the gate immediately moved out of the way and allowed them entry, proving that they had authority within the kingdom.

"I know she's our enemy and all, but I have to admit that Lady Nel is very brave to stand up to the likes of Albel the Wicked. Not even his army has the courage to poke fun at him," a rather high pitched voice whispered nearby. Mirage carefully glanced beside her and found two women, one with shoulder length violet hair and the other with really short dirty blonde hair, covered up in peasant clothing watching the Glyphians walk past the gates. One of them had said that the red haired lady was their enemy, so did that mean that they were from the other country? Mirage continued to listen to them, mildly intrigued by their conversation.

"I know," the other agreed, "She makes him sound like an ordinary man when she talks to him, but we know better."

"Yeah, he's really a bloodthirsty terror. It makes one wonder how such a normal woman like her could ever be in love with him, let alone be engaged to."

"But they do look cute together…in a way."

Suddenly the violet haired girl jerked her head up as if she had awakened, "Oh, Tynave, what are we doing? We should get this to the commander at once!"

"Oh! Right," Tynave replied before the two women started jogging. Mirage managed to catch a glimpse of what one of the women was carrying. It looked like a piece of the ship. She decided to go follow them to see what they planned to do with that piece of the hull.

* * *

"Pride comes before the fall. Surely a measure of prudence would do us no harm. Right, Albel?"

"Heh…If they are the enemy, we kill them. If they aren't, we dispose of them. Simple!" came the predicable reply of the Black Brigade captain.

"If only things were as simple as you say…" the aged man sighed. Soon Duke Vox took over, informing about the current situation of the prisoners, and how he was retrieving information from them.

"Lady Nel?"

Nel bit back her yelp and backed away from the door to face a young boy in his early teens. He was a sweet and bashful boy who was a squire for one of the Storm Brigade knights. He also had a rather adorable crush on Nel, but it was merely puppy love that he would get over. She was somewhat relieved that it was he who caught her eavesdropping on the war council. Had it been any of the knights, minus the Black Brigade, she would have been reported and placed under arrest. Vox stubbornly believed that the war room was not a place for women and made sure his knights watched over her during the meetings. Unfortunately, the knight in charge of watching her was one of the curious knights that had an attraction towards her, leaving her no choice but to slip away from him when he wasn't looking. She didn't like perverts who mentally undressed her, especially when she's glaring at them to get them to look elsewhere.

"What are you doing here, Noe?"

"I could ask you the same thing Lady Nel." Nel grinned and opened her mouth to say something, but the doors suddenly opened and a Black Brigade soldier stepped out. The soldier jerked in surprise at seeing them there, but his helmet hid his expression.

"Uh, er-The king requests your presence M'lady," his voice echoed in the heavy armor.

"Yes, thank you," she nodded before walking past him and into the meeting room. Three of the men glanced up at her when she came in, Vox glared at her disdainfully while Arzei and Woltar gave her slightly amused looks. Albel only sat there with his arms crossed, looking clearly bored.

"Well, that was fast," the king commented as she took her seat next to Albel.

"Aye," Woltar agreed, "Almost as if she were standing just outside the door."

"It would do no good if I kept His Majesty waiting," she responded with a respectful nod towards King Arzei.

"It would be treasonous of her is she had listened in on the war plans," Vox grunted before Woltar chuckled.

"Come now, Vox, Lady Nel is a trueborn noble of Airyglyph. She has every right to know about the conditions of the kingdom in return for informing us of our enemies' plans," the captain of the Storm Brigade replied. The duke frowned before he faced the king.

"Your Highness, we need not the services of a mere woman. A woman's place is within a household not the battlefield," he argued. She disliked the way Vox would talk about her as if she wasn't there. She would have been more than glad to say something in her defense, but then figured it would be pointless to lower his already low opinion of her.

"Tell that to the Aquarians," Albel smirked as he discreetly brought his good hand to rest on the small of Nel's back and slipped under her shirt to caress the soft skin underneath. It was the wrong time and wrong place to pull that off so she tried to pull away only to attract the attention of the others, leaving her to sit back and let him do as he pleased. At least he didn't go any further than her back.

Arzei closed his eyes briefly as he thought of a way to ease the duke's concerns, "Lord Vox, if you had a daughter, then you are free to raise her as you wish, but the late Sir Nevelle had trained his daughter well and she has proven how invaluable she is to Our cause. It would be injustice to Airyglyph if We were to send her home."

"Hmph, well, she did manage to make a fool of one of my knights. Where is he by the way? He was supposed to report in here when you were summoned."

"He had other business to attend to so I decided to keep Squire Noe company while I waited," she answered. Yeah, the knight was busy alright. Busy looking up the maid's skirts when she bent over to pick up trash from the floor.

"Well then, what news have you of this Aquarian weapon? Does it fit the description of the object outside?"

"No Your Majesty, not even the Aquarians seem to know what that is, but we can't be too sure if it wasn't a top secret project that only their queen and the higher authority of the castle knew about. I have the specifications of the weapon they have been whispering about right here," the spy replied as she unfurled the scroll and placed it in the middle of the table before the king, "Their engineers have created a weapon that uses 'channeled force' a power similar to lightning. There seems to be some flaws in the development, preventing the device from using its full power. Until they can fix that problem, their research has come to a complete halt."

"I see, good work Lady Nel," Arzei said before he turned to one of the soldiers, "Take the blueprints to the engineers. See if they can figure out how to fix the flaw and mass produce an identical weapon like it."

"Yes, Your Grace," the soldier bowed before he retrieved the document and left.

The king faced Nel once again, "Return to your post in the Kirlsa Training Facility until another mission arises. The rest of you have already received your orders. You are all dismissed."

Albel removed his hand from under Nel's shirt and got up with the rest. Woltar followed Arzei out to his quarters to discuss more concerns about Kirlsa while Vox headed towards the dungeons to check on the prisoners. Once they were the last people in the meeting room, Nel arose from her seat and glanced at him. Although she was the leader of the spy organization within Airyglyph, she still answered and reported to two people: The king of Airyglyph and the captain of the Black Brigade.

"So what do we do now? Head back to Kirlsa?" she wondered as he stepped closer to her.

"No, it's getting late. We'll leave first thing in the morning." She raised an eyebrow.

"Late? It's still early afternoon. We can still make it to Kirlsa by nightfall," she persisted as he brought his claw up to cradle her head. She didn't flinch once as the deadly sharp points in his claw traced the curve of her cheek. She knew he wouldn't harm her unless they were sparring and she never wanted to show any weakness in front of him in fear that he would think less of her. Ever since Glou had died, Albel knew he had to get stronger and if he got stronger, then she had to as well.

"It will be late by the time we settle this morning's argument once and for all," he smirked as he wrapped his free arm around her waist. She obtained a similar smirk before her smaller hands grabbed his metal wrist and pulled his gauntlet away.

"You mean the usual out in the training fields?"

"The first one to bleed loses and no runology is allowed."

"I can and will defeat you with or without runology, Nox." He began leading her out of the room with his arm still around her.

"Dream on, Zelpher, dream on."

* * *

Fayt rolled his eyes at his luck. They had been captured on an underdeveloped planet and Cliff wasn't helping the situation much. He wasn't sure how much he could take of the Klausian's laid back nature as he worried about his parents and Sophia. Of course not much will matter if the Federation catches them infringing the UP3! What was worse, getting captured by an underdeveloped culture and eventually getting tried by the Federation or getting caught by the Vendeen? Either option would involve torture at some point.

"Hey, cheer up. Somebody'll show up to spring us outta this place soon enough. Then we'll be on our way, you'll see," the blonde man reassured as Fayt paced around in the cell.

"And who would that 'somebody' be?" he inquired as a bit of his temper flared, "You told Mirage she shouldn't bother coming in after us-and it's not like we know anyone else. And I doubt your leader's found out about what happened to us yet…"

Suddenly a mysterious gleam came across Cliff's eyes and he looked past the blue haired boy and past the prison bars, "They're here already."

"What? Who?" Fayt was shocked out of his anger and turned to where Cliff was staring just in time to see their guard fall. In the soldier's place was a shadowy figure.

"Friend or foe, I dunno-but there's somebody here," the Klausian replied as he stood up and walked up to the bars, "Hey."

"Do not be alarmed, I am here to rescue you," a calm feminine voice called out, surprising both men.

"Huh?"

"Oh really? And what's the catch? Surely you're not here doing this completely out of the goodness in your heart," Cliff inquired with a nonchalant look.

The woman hesitated as she thought over her words, "…I want you both to help me."

"With what?"

"You were riding in that lump of metal that fell on the town, correct? We want your technology," she responded before Fayt's eyes widened.

"Our technology? We can't let you have that!"

"Why not?" The mysterious woman sounded disappointed as Cliff came closer to the door.

"And what would you do with our technology if we gave it to you?"

"My country would use it to end the war with Airyglyph so we could stop this pointless fighting."

"Hold on a minute…" Fayt interjected as something clicked, "'your country'? So you are not one of the people who threw us in here?"

The woman shook her head, "No, no, I'm from Aquaria, not Airyglyph."

"Aquaria…the interrogator kept mentioning that name."

"Makes sense now," Cliff agreed as he turned his attention back to their possible rescuer.

"You have been interrogated? I apologize for not being able to save you sooner. If that's the case, then you really wouldn't have any loyalty to Airyglyph, why not help me?"

"Good point. We'll help you," Cliff replied as Fayt stared at him like he grew another head.

"What are you saying?" he all but shouted as the blonde man rolled his eyes.

"Give us a moment, all right?" he ordered before guiding the younger man to the other end of the cell. The woman waited patiently in the shadows as they discussed the situation. She could still hear every word they whispered, but didn't understand most of it. For instance, what was this UP3 the young boy kept talking about? The blonde man shared his point of view of the situation and eventually got the other to agree with him, thought she didn't appreciate the 'joke' he made about her. She was able to discover that they were trying to go rescue the boy's father and briefly thought about helping them out if they agreed to help her country.

"All right, we discussed it. We'll help you," the large man announced, earning a nod from her.

"Okay, step back from the bars," she ordered before she conjured up a Firebolt to destroy the lock, "You're free."

The boy stared at her in complete shock as the larger man whistled. The woman then noticed their restraints and pulled out her dagger to get them out.

"Thank you very much," the young boy said as he rubbed his wrists.

"Yeah, thanks," the other one added.

"No problem. I was just doing my job, but I have one request: please don't try to run away when you see the chance."

"Huhh?" Now it was the blonde man's turn to be shocked.

"It's my mission to take you to my country to keep you safe, even if you refuse to help us. But if you left, then Airyglyph might capture you and use you for their purposes. That's why I would have to kill you should you try to run."

"Gah!"

"Hey…she heard us."

The woman finally stepped out of the shadows, allowing them to see her profile. She had gray hair with gold colored eyes.

"I'm flattered you think I'm a 'hot chick'," she smiled as she tried to hold back a giggle, "but please refrain from saying it again. I wouldn't want to beat up someone I barely met."

"Sca-ree."

"I'm Clair Lasbard, agent for the Sacred Kingdom of Aquaria," she introduced as she held out her hand to Fayt.

* * *

Yes, that's right. CLAIR GETS A BIGGER ROLE IN THE STORY! And as for the Cliff and Mirage pairing, I will put it in there …eventually (probably next chapter). Now I'm off to finish my art homework and then finish the rest of the next chapter to Aquios High! C ya!


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